So what is, who is, WeCan-Ugan?

We received a huge contribution to the development of the ColaLife concept last week from WeCan-Ugan. It took the form of a report summarising a very large survey of the views of people in northern Uganda on ColaLife. The report can be downloaded here. WeCan-Ugan operates under the umbrella of King’s College SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise).

In the first of a guest blog posts, Muhammad Atif, introduces WeCan Ugan.

The WeCan-Ugan name is quickly making the rounds with ColaLife. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce our work in Uganda.

Uganda is a country that has been torn apart by Africa’s longest fought civil war. Since 1987 the Lord’s Resistance Army has been engaged in armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. During this time, 30,000 were killed and 1.5 million people were displaced from their homes.

Now that the war is over, these displaced persons and their families are starting to move back to their ancestral homes. However the region of Northern Uganda still faces the task of rebuilding its infrastructure. Last year, we were contacted by the Hope Revival Agency for Rural Development (HORARD) to help in this very task.

In Summer 2010, we travelled to northern Uganda and visited rural communities, schools and income generation projects. We listened to their stories of the past, problems in the present and hopes for the future.

Together with HORARD, we identified 3 main needs for the area: income generation, education and health.

It is our education team (WeCan-Ugan) who united with ColaLife to conduct their research in Uganda.